August 12: Pre-Game: Soriano open to coming to Mets

Talked with Alfonso Soriano awhile ago, and he said he’s open to coming to play with the Mets next season, but thought it would be difficult going back to second base. No problem. Plug him in left field because you know they won’t bring Cliff Floyd back.

“I would talk with them,” Soriano said. “I liked playing in New York.”

One of the Nationals thought $75-million over five years would be the going rate, but didn’t think Washington would pay it.

There are two sides to every story and conventional wisdom was the Nationals were sticking up the contenders at the deadline. Not so, said a Nationals coach: “They were trying to stick us up, thinking we were desperate and would take anything.” Given that, the Nationals probably thought they would make out better with the compensatory draft picks over what they might have gotten in a deal.

John Delcos enters his third season covering the Mets for The Journal News after eight seasons on the Yankees beat. Prior to coming to New York, John covered the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians.